Remove from the flame, add mashed potatoes and salt; mix all the items well.

Filling is ready. Make small balls about 1 1/2″ dia. and keep aside.

In a vessel, mix besan, chilly powder, turmeric powder, hing and salt to make a batter, adding little water. The batter should not be too watery.

In a frying pan, heat oil.

Dip the balls one by one in the batter and put it in the hot oil. Repeat with all the balls and fry them in one or two batches depending upon the size of the frying pan, till they are reasonably crispy.

Keep stirring till they are done.

The ambados are ready.

Remove them from the pan with the help of a perforated laddle and keep them on a paper napkin to remove excess oil.

Pumpkin leaves are nutritious , and tastes great if cooked with the required expertise. These leaves can be converted into spicy curry/snack items. Konkanis prepare pattharvodo(a type of steamed and fried/roasted snack) with these leaves. It is a good snack for the evenings.

DUDHIYA PALLYA PATHARVODO(PUMPKIN LEAF SNACK)

Ingredients:

tur dal-1 cup,

urid dal-1 cup,

rice flour-1/2 cup,

red chillies-10(fried in oil),

hing-1/8 tsp,

salt to taste,

oil for frying,

tamarind-very little and

pumpkin leaves(med.size)-8(cleaned).

Method:

Soak the dals together for 3 hrs.

Grind with chillies, salt, hing and tamarind to a fine paste.

Spread with hand, a small quantity of the batter on the top of one leaf , place another leaf over it and spread the batter again over it.

Repeat the process, till all the leaves are used up.

Roll all the leaves together tightly to form a cylindrical shape and hold the shape by tying it with a thread.

Though bittergourd is slightly bitter in taste, when converted into a snack, the bitterness gets reduced. It is a deep fried snack and it tastes marvellous. Even children will relish it. This is a good snack for the evenings as well as a fried dish during meals.

INGREDIENTS:

raw rice-1 cup,

urid dal-1/2 cup,

red chillies-8(fried in oil),

hing-1/4 tsp,

tamarind-very small avla size,

salt to taste,

Bittergourd-1(small) and

oil for frying.

KARTHYA PATHARVODO

Method:

Soak rice and dal together for 3hrs and grind them along with salt, chillies, hing and tamarind to a coarse texture.

Cut the bittergourd to very small pieces after removing the seeds,if any, and add to the above batter. Mix well.

A time-pass snack, generally munched by the kids and youngsters whilst on their hobbies, like reading, playing games on the computer, playing board games, etc. It also goes very well with the evenimg tea. Most of the grains such as whole black chana(bengal gram), chouli(cow pea), moong and other types of beans .can be used for this preparation.

Ingredients:

any one of the grain-1/4kg,

salt solution(made with 1 tbsp of salt and 3 tbsp of water) and

oil for frying.

Method:

Wash and soak the grain for 8 hrs.

Strain water.

Put it on a cloth, close the ends, tie it with a thread and hang it at a convenient place. Leave it for 2 days.

A sprout maker can also be used for sprouting the grain.

Remove the unsprouted grains(it may burst while frying) from the sprouted ones.

Whenever the children or the adults are hungry and ask for some immediate relief, the homemaker resort to this dish, which is very tasty and spicy, at the same time, wholesome. It is also a very healthy dish as it does not contan any unhealthy add-ons. It is a very easy and simple preparation. This is an instant snack and cannot be kept for a longer time.

Ingredients:

thin poha -1/4kg,

green chillies-2,

coconut scrapings-1 cup,

salt to taste,

sugar1tsp(optional)

small onion-1/2 cup(optional)chopped and

coconut oil-2tsps.

Method:

Mix poha and coconut scrapings together and mash it well with hand to make it soft. No water is used.